The third generation partnership project (3GPP) Release 6 defines MBMS, which is a counterpart of other multicast services operating in other communication standards, such as digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H). MBMS allows downlink data to be transmitted from a single source to multiple recipients in broadcast or multicast modes. The existing 3GPP release has further enhanced it to define the MBMS channels, scheduling, bearers, procedures, and the like.
LTE defined in 3GPP release 8 and later, allows for the support of single cell and multi-cell MBMS transmissions. For multi-cell transmission, MBMS, (e.g., mobile TV), is transmitted on the coverage of a group of cells, MBMS may be transmitted on a multicast channel (MCH), soft combining of MBMS data at the receiver may be supported within a particular service group (i.e., single frequency network (SFN)), and synchronous transmission of MBMS data from multiple cells is possible. To achieve synchronous data transmission in multiple cells in the LTE architecture, inter-cell scheduling is required. In Release 6, the synchronization is performed by a radio network controller (RNC). Further, in Release 9, MBMS support dividing the network into Multiple MB SFN (Single Frequency Network) each of which may have multiple enodeBs which are time synchronized with each other.
The limitation of the present release is that it specifies how to multicast/broadcast a service but does not explain how one could use this enhancement to provide MBMS premiered on a particular day and a particular time like for example a movie need to be premiered. Further, as the premiered time may be a peak network usage time, we would need mechanism for efficient transfer of the content through usage of backhaul resources during non-peak time when there is very less congestion in the network. Furthermore, if the content is kept remotely to optimize the backhaul usage, the content has to be protected from piracy before it is premiered.
Thus there is a need for an improved and secure method and system for efficiently carrying multicast and broadcast content over LTE which overcomes the above mentioned limitations.